Eyewitness Travel Guides Top Ten Boston [Paperback]

I bought this guide before going to Boston (for the first time) and it was indispensable for my trip. This DK guide is very well organized and easy to use. It contains helpful sections such as:

Boston's Top Ten (top highlights of Boston)
Top Ten Hotels
Top Ten Budget Hotels
Top Ten Restaurants
Top Ten Places Spots for Seafood
Top Ten Places to Shop
Top Ten Performing Arts Venues
Top Ten Italian Bakeries
Top Ten Activities for Kids

(There are much more of these Top 10 guides throughout the book)

Within each section of Boston, there is also a top 10 list and guide to different places which you should see (e.g. Harvard, Cambridge, Financial District, Chinatown, etc.)

Towards the back, there is a very helpful section on how to get around in Boston, how to select the right hotels, things to avoid, and all sorts of helpful travel tips.

In the back of the cover, there is a very helpful fold-out map of all of Boston, along with a transport guide to the bus routes and the "T" (subway) destinations.

The colorful pictures and photos throughout this book make this guide as much of a keep-sake souvenir as well as a comprehensive travel guide. This guide was so helpful to me on my recent trip. I found it more useful than other guides (e.g. Frommers, Lonely Planet) which I've used before.

Highly recommended!!

The PLUS: 5 Stars!
The guide takes a pyramidal approach to the sights of your destination. So you slowly can work yourself through the areas that really interest you by easily skipping things you would not want to see or visit at all.
It also makes it easy to find the things that are important to you because the descriptions are small enough and pictures further make it easy to attract your interest or pass things by.

The MINUS: 4 Stars!
The good about the Maps is that they are there at all and also that there is an index of some streets.
The contained foldout maps though helpful when there is nothing else at all are not my favorite because they are quite small and are more an overview to identify the area where something is to be found on a better more detailed map. The same maps as the foldouts are also on a separate map that is detachable. This is a good idea but they are way to small and hard to read especially in dim light and in an awkward format to be really useful. - When available, I rather get a local map from the tourist office and transfer my destinations to it.

SUMMARY: 5 Stars!
This guide is an extremely useful sightseeing guide and small enough to be carried with you all the time for quick reference. It also allows you to choose the amount of detail you want to follow for the town: top 10 Highlights - top 10 to each highlight - top ten to some general categories like museums, bars, hotels, restaurants, shopping, and also some specific categories just for this destination like best seafood restaurants or great walks and itineraries.
Insider tips or as they call the sections: "Street smart" round up this little guide. The maps are OK but could be improved. The deficiency of the maps though should not detract from the overall usefulness of this guide for your destination. This is true for a first time visitor with limited or all kinds of time and also for the return visitor, who wants to to repeat some destinations in more detail or avoid the same old top ten but venture out into new territory.

Our first visit to Boston was dramatically easier because of this book! We accomplished everything we wanted, in a timely and safe fashion, as easily as possible. The only missing component was information on BosTIX, which we found ourselves to assist with purchasing tickets for shows. We had the book in our purses or hands the entire trip - it was small and light enough to carry around and indispensable enough that we always checked that we had it before we went anywhere. Four days, three nights in Boston and this book was all that we needed! Now it serves as a great souvenir of our fabulous time there.